Listen to SB Nation’s L.A. Clippers preview here.
It's a new era for the Clippers ... kinda. Chris Paul is gone, but the Clippers didn't exactly blow the team up in his absence. Instead, we've got this funky roster surrounding Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and coach Doc Rivers.
To make sense of it, we invited former Clippers video coordinator Mo Dakhil and Clips Nation editor Lucas Hann to discuss the following:
- Was it time for the CP3 era to end? How will his tenure in L.A. be viewed in the future?
- Did the Clippers make the right decision to pivot into a quick rebuild instead of bottoming out? What market factors made it impossible to conduct a full rebuild? Given the strategy, did they execute their offseason effectively?
- It's been a long time since Griffin had his own team. It's also been a long time since he's been fully healthy. What will that mean this season? How will his role change? Plus, how do you get him to have the confidence to use his athleticism without fearing injury? (Mo had a great idea.)
- Is Rivers long for this situation? Should our antennas be up after he lost (or voluntarily gave back) personnel power? Does the organization bringing in Jerry West and other respected personnel people from other places mean that Doc's tumbling in Steve Ballmer's pecking order?
- How is Coach Doc gonna use this weird roster? Who starts in the backcourt? How does Danilo Gallinari fit in? Is this noise about getting more ball movement a sustainable strategy or sour grapes from losing Paul? CAN WE GET MORE MILOS TEODOSIC?
- Your favorite banana boat question, which has A LOT of options.
- Predictions, along with an extended discussion about the Clippers' place in the Los Angeles sports scene in a post-CP3 era.
This podcast was part of the Limited Upside podcast’s 2017-18 offseason series previewing all 30 NBA teams with members of SB Nation’s team communities and other friends of the show. We’ve spent the last two-and-a-half months gauging the temperature of every fan base heading into what should be a terrific NBA season. There’s no better way to understand what makes NBA fans in each market tick.
We began these in August and counted down worst-to-first leading up to the season. Here’s how to listen to them all:
- Nets with Kristian Winfield and Nets Daily’s Anthony Puccio
- Lakers with Zito Madu and Silver Screen and Roll’s Anthony Irwin and Harrison Faigen
- Suns with Bright Side of the Sun’s Dave King and Evan Sidery
- 76ers with Tyler Tynes and Liberty Ballers’ Kyle Neubeck
- Knicks with Kristian Winfield and Posting and Toasting’s Seth Rosenthal
- Magic with Orlando Pinstriped Post’s Zach Oliver and Cory Hutson
- Kings with Kenny Carraway and Sactown Royalty’s Tony Xypteras
- Mavs with Tim Cato and Mavs Moneyball’s Kirk Henderson
- Wolves with Canis Hooups’ Eric Goldman and John Meyer
- Pelicans with The Bird Writes’ Oleh Kosel and Travis Tate
- Hornets with James Dator and At the Hive’s Nicklaus Denning
- Pistons with John Ketchum, Kofie Yeboah and Detroit Bad Boys’ Lazarus Jackson
- Nuggets with Denver Stiffs’ Adam Mares
- Heat with Kelly Cohen and Hot Hot Hoops’ Surya Fernandez
- Bulls with Ricky O’Donnell and Blog a Bull’s Jason Patt
- Pacers with Whitney Medworth and Indy Cornrows’ Caitlin Cooper
- Blazers with Blazers Edge’s Brian Freeman and Peter Sampson
- Bucks with Kevin McCauley and Brew Hoop’s Mitchell Maurer
- Hawks with Harry Lyles Jr. and Peachtree Hoops’ Brad Rowland
- Grizzlies with Grizzly Bear Blues’ Joe Mullinax
- Thunder with Eddie Maisonet and Welcome to Loud City’s Joshua Broom
- Thunder addendum! Carmelo Anthony trade emergency pod with Eddie Maisonet
- Wizards with Sports Illustrated’s Andrew Sharp and Bullets Forever’s Michael Sykes
- Jazz with SLC Dunk’s Mychal Lowman and James Hansen.
- Raptors with Raptors HQ’s Daniel Reynolds and freelance writer Seerat Sohi
- Cavaliers with Fear the Sword’s Chris Manning and MMA Fighting’s Eric Jackman
- Clippers with Clips Nation’s Lucas Hann and former L.A. video coordinator Mo Dakhil
- Celtics with Paul Flannery and Celtics Blog’s Nick Gelso
- Rockets with The Dream Shake’s Ethan Rothstein and Jeremy Brener
- Spurs with Pounding the Rock’s J.R. Wilco and Bruno Passos
- Warriors with Golden State of Mind’s Bram Kincheloe